Senate OKS med-pot regs

The marijuana plant above probably was not the specific one that inspired rapper Afroman's Grammy-nominated 2002 hit, "Because I Got High." Either way, Afroman has now changed his stage name to OGAfroman.

The marijuana plant above probably was not the specific one that inspired rapper Afroman's Grammy-nominated 2002 hit, "Because I Got High." Either way, Afroman has now changed his stage name to OGAfroman.

The marijuana plant above probably was not the specific one that inspired rapper Afroman's Grammy-nominated 2002 hit, "Because I Got High." Either way, Afroman has now changed his stage name to OGAfroman.

Under mounting pressure, California lawmakers appear to be moving closer toward approving compromise legislation to regulate medical marijuana after years of stalemate.

The Senate took the first step Wednesday, unanimously passing a measure pushed by cities and law enforcement that would impose tighter controls on the industry, from planting to prescriptions.

The Assembly is expected to take up a competing bill Thursday with the expectation that the two sides can reconcile differences and put a deal on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk this summer.

“This bill is not legalizing marijuana for recreational use,” said Sen. Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, who is carrying the measure. “The voters spoke in 1996 when they approved medical marijuana — bring it on. Now what we want to do is regulate it. Police chiefs and the locals who have to deal with the aftermath have asked for this bill.”

Lawmakers have been laboring this week to meet an early deadlines for bills to advance. In other significant action:

• A new program that will provide unauthorized immigrants access to college loans as long as they meet certain requirements was approved by the Senate. The proposal would make available a funding pool of $9.2 million.

• The Assembly approved a bill that would prevent defendants from using a so-called “gay panic” defense to escape murder charges. California criminal law considers killings done in the heat of passion manslaughter, not murder. AB2501 says a defendant’s discovery of his victim’s true gender or sexual orientation is not grounds for a “heat of passion” crime.

• The Senate rejected a bill that would require labels on food with genetically modified organisms (GMO).

• A moratorium on the controversial oil and gas drilling method known as "fracking" was also defeated in the Senate. Hydraulic fracturing is the process of drilling and injecting fluid, usually water and chemicals, into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas and oil inside.

• The Senate passed two bills that would tighten oversight of California assisted living homes to increase the frequencies of home inspections to once a year and set up rules for relocating residents when facilities are closed. The measures are part of a package of measures to improve assisted living homes for the elderly and are partly in response to revelations in a U-T Watchdog series that exposed abuses within the industry.

• San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, quoting rapper Eminem in her floor speech, won approval of her measure to allocate $80 a month to help families on welfare afford diapers. “Food stamps don’t buy diapers,” the Democrat said, referencing his lyrics. The subsidy would go to those with infants under the age of 2. The 52-19 Assembly vote sends AB 1516 to the Senate.

California became the first state in the nation in 1996 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes with a doctor’s prescription. Later, in 2003, legislation was signed into law allowing patients (and primary caregivers) to grow marijuana for their own use. But even today marijuana cultivation and use remains illegal under federal law, despite rebellious states like Colorado that now permit the recreational use of marijuana.

California has been more restrained. Voters in 2010 rejected an initiative to legalize pot. A new initiative is in the works, however.

Neither bill would force changes in the recently enacted ordinance passed by the San Diego City Council to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

The major provisions of Senate Bill 1262:

• Clarifies that cities and counties have authority to impose zoning conditions or choose to ban the shops.

• Sales can be conducted only at a licensed shop.

• Marijuana can be grown only at licensed sites.

• Applicants to operate a shop or cultivate marijuana must be fingerprinted and undergo a background check.

• Cultivation sites must weigh, inventory and video all pot before being transported and then follow the same process within eight hours of arriving at the dispensary.

• Security precautions must also be taken.

The legislation has been amended repeatedly in hopes of drawing more support. But county officials remain concerned over some of its provisions that could put them “front and center as enforcers” of the law without additional funding, as well as forcing agricultural commissioners and environmental health officials to take on more responsibility.

Cities, however, have been pressing for a crackdown in the wake of growing demand and what they say has been a spike in crime, neighborhood nuisance complaints and risk to public health from tainted products.

“We cannot continue to be blind to the issue. You can’t continue to put your head in a hole and decide that this is not happening around us,” Correa said.

Chula Vista Police Chief David Bejarano is one of those urging the state to crack down, warning in an earlier interview that California’s medical marijuana industry “is out of control. It is in chaos and it may be corrupt.”

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, is carrying a dueling measure, AB 1894 that proposes an extensive list of controls. But it has the support of most marijuana advocates, who say it is a more measured, less-punitive approach.

“It does what we’ve needed to do for years. I am hopeful …that we can get it done this year,” Ammiano said.

He added that he expects to work with the Senate “to make sure the Legislature produces a meaningful regulatory bill this year.”

Ammiano’s bill would put the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in charge as the regulatory agency, and require doctors to follow protocols in writing recommendations so their patients can legally obtain the drug. It also gives local governments autonomy in zoning and permitting decisions, among numerous other provisions.

“This is the way we need to go,” he said earlier. “Cities and patients are tired of the chaos from inadequate regulation. This will give patients safe access and allow for public safety as well.”

Gov. Brown has not taken a position on the bills.

The entire San Diego County delegation voted in favor of Correa’s measure.